ZURICH (Reuters) - The three-nation United States-led bid and the rival Morocco bid to host the 2026 World Cup have both passed a technical evaluation of their facilities and infrastructure, a report by soccer's world governing body FIFA said on Friday.
The decision means that the hosts for the 48-team tournament will be chosen at the Congress on June 13, where each of the 211 member associations hold one vote, provided the two bids are first rubber-stamped by the policy-making FIFA Council.
The U.S. are bidding jointly with Canada and Mexico.
"The 2026 Bid Evaluation Task Force has determined that both bids have qualified for designation by the FIFA Council," said a copy of the report seen by Reuters.
"This is because both bids have been deemed eligible on the basis of having met (or exceeded) the minimum hosting requirements for the 2026 FIFA World Cup technical evaluation."
The North American bid was given an overall score of four out of five while the Morocco bid received 2.7. A minimum score of two was needed to continue in the race.
The U.S. hosted the finals in 1994 and bid unsuccessfully for 2022. Mexico staged the 1970 and 1986 tournaments.
Morocco has already made four unsuccessful bids to stage for the World Cup.
(Writing by Brian Homewood in Bern; editing by Ken Ferris)